The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence awarded to a man from Tamil Nadu for kidnapping and strangling a seven-year-old boy in 2009. The convict, Sundararajan, had killed the child after his parents failed to pay a Rs. 5-lakh ransom.

A bench of Justice P Sathasivam and Justice JS Khehar turned down the convict's plea for mercy and held that Sundararajan's action was a result of extreme mental perversion that wasn't "worthy of human condonation".

Sundararajan had kidnapped the Class 2 student from his school at Karkudal village in Cuddalore district.

He had asked for a ransom from the boy's parents. However, when it wasn't paid, Sundararajan strangled the boy and threw the body into a water tank.Sundararajan was sentenced to death by a trial court.

The verdict was upheld by the Madras high court, following which it came before the Supreme Court.